Summary: Hundreds of people marched through the streets of the
Afghan capital Kabul Thursday, demanding the immediate withdrawal of
international military forces stationed there ahead of the 10th
anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

KABUL/WASHINGTON: Hundreds of people marched through the streets of
the Afghan capital Kabul Thursday, demanding the immediate withdrawal of
international military forces stationed there ahead of the 10th
anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

The peaceful demonstration in downtown Kabul was meant to mark the
Oct. 7 invasion of Afghanistan 10 years ago, following the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks against the United States.

The U.S. invasion came after Taliban leader Mullah Omar refused to
hand over Osama bin Laden, purportedly because of his disbelief that the
Al-Qaeda chief was responsible for the attacks and because it went
against the Afghan tradition of hospitality and protection of guests.

The demonstrators chanted "no to occupation," and
"Americans out" as they marched through the streets holding
pictures of Afghans killed in violence, and later burned an American
flag. The demonstration was organized by a small left wing party.

"The United States said it came to help the Afghan people and
provide a good life to Afghan people, but their true purpose was to
occupy our country," said Farzana, a 22-year-old woman who goes by
one name. "It is 10 years since the invasion of Afghanistan and all
it has left behind is the blood of the Afghan people. We want the U.S.
to leave our country."

She added that "suicide attacks, insecurity and corruption are
increasing day-by-day."

In Copenhagen, military officials said a Danish soldier was
seriously wounded by an explosive device during an operation Thursday in
southwestern Afghanistan. The explosion occurred west of a Danish base
in Helmand province, the military said, providing no other details.

The Danish Army Operational Command says the soldier was taken by
helicopter to a field hospital for treatment.

Also in Helmand, insurgents opened fire on a civilian bus traveling
in the Girishk district, killing a man and a child and wounding 16
others, the governor's office reported. And in southern Uruzgan
province, a car bomb killed the commander of a highway security force,
Wali Jan, as he walked out of his home, the police said.

And in the southern Herat province, two Taliban gunmen shot and
killed acting police chief of Shindan district as he was riding his
motorcycle. Kahmir Khan was on his way to work when he was attacked,
said the governor's spokesman, Mohyaddin Noori.

The U.S.-led coalition currently has more than 130,000 troops
stationed in Afghanistan, with about 98,000 from the United States.

International forces have begun handing over responsibly for
security to Afghan forces and all foreign combat troops are to leave
Afghanistan by the end of 2014. President Barack Obama in July announced
that he would withdraw 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan this year and
23,000 more by next September.

A decade of war will pass quietly at the White House this week.
Obama plans no public events Friday to mark a moment the nation never
really expected. Out of sight and off the minds of millions of
Americans, the war is the most prolonged conflict the United States has
been engaged in since the Vietnam war.

Obama has gone so far as to declare it "the longest war in
American history."

The lack of attention to the 10-year milestone is driven in part by
White House thinking that Obama has already helped lead a national
reflection on a decade of costly sacrifices and battles.

He did that on the recent anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the day
when many people feel the war unforgettably began.

Yet Obama's handling of the new war milestone also underscores
his interest in sticking to an economic message without distraction.
Jobs, not war, matter most right now.

The American role in the war is now on pace to last at least 13
years.

Put together, more than 2 million troops have been sent to
Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, which began in 2003, including hundreds
of thousands of troops who have served more than one tour. Nearly 4,500
U.S. troops have died in Iraq and about 1,700 in Afghanistan. Tens of
thousands more have been wounded.

Obama moved to end the war in Iraq but initially expanded the one
in Afghanistan, trying to regain control of the conflict he saw as
central to American security.

A recent CBS News poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the
United States should not be involved in Afghanistan, a sharp turnaround
from as recently as two years ago, when a majority had supported the
U.S. mission there. Almost 7 in 10 people say the war has gone on longer
than they had expected.

In terms of the military, 1 in 3 American veterans of the post-9/11
military believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth
fighting, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.

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